Attacq (which I hold shares in) has released an update for November and December sales and footfall in the malls. The trend is that footfall has dropped significantly vs. the same months in 2019, but sales are often better. People are doing fewer trips and spending more per trip. This is in line with other property updates I've seen. Turnover in December 2021 was 13.1% higher vs. December 2020 and 4.9% higher vs. December 2019. Attacq notes that the restaurant category has posted a noticeable recovery. Attacq has available liquidity of R1.8 billion and has refinanced R920 million in facilities with a decrease in the weighted average interest margin of 0.3%.
Italtile has released a voluntary trading statement for the six months to December 2021. In a period where the DIY and building materials companies seemed to falter when measured against a tough base, Italtile managed to grow its HEPS by between 7.1% and 10.4%. The co mpany highlights that 2.8% was driven by share repurchases and a transaction with a minority shareholder in a subsidiary. Still, that's a solid effort from the company in this period. Detailed results are due on 10 February.
Spear REIT has completed a vendor placement of R253.9 million at a premium of 0.13% to the 30-day VWAP. The equity raised will be used for the acquisition of 27 Junction Road in Parow (R65 million) and the rest will be used to reduce debt. Combined with the disposal of the stake in UES Hotel, this will take Spear to a loan-to-value of between 38.5% and 39.5% before any adjustments to property values at year-end. The Junction Road property is an industrial property in Parow Industria that is used for logistics, assembly and bulk storage.
After being put under pressure by activist investor Albie Cilliers (as detailed in a thread on Twitter), Distell release d an announcement correcting an error in the prospectus and documents related to the Heineken deal. The error in the prospectus is a bit of sloppy proof-reading that doesn't change the pro forma financial information. The new information relates to the immovable property valuations, which are now available on request through the website. For those looking at this transaction in detail, that's the important part of the announcement.
Wescoal doesn't like its name anymore, as it "implies it is a coal company" - which it is. To greenify itself and become far friendly to ESG investment mandates (presumably ones that check nothing beyond the company's name), Wescoal will change its name to Salungano. The company will issue a circular and incur costs on behalf of shareholders for this move.
The Sirius Real Estate share price has finally experienced a correction after an exceptional performance in 2021. The company has anno unced a restructure at executive level, with the current CFO moving into a newly created role of Chief Investment Officer and a new CFO being appointed internally. For shareholders, it's good to see depth of leadership in any company.
After a process that I'm sure cost a fortune with lawyers and accountants in the US and South Africa, Oceana has released the results of the investigation into the accounting of its stake in Daybrook Fisheries. There's much ado about nothing in my view, with the complexities of a legal agreement based on US marine law regulations driving a debate around the accounting rules. The new accounting treatment results in an increase in goodwill of USD4.4 million. The critical thing is that no fraud or anything similar has been uncovered, so shareholders can breathe a sigh of relief.
Namibian company Trustco is still fighting with the regulators in South Africa. It has filed a review applicati on against the decision of the Financial Services Tribunal and against the JSE.
MC Mining has limited activities at its various coal projects and is in negotiations with the IDC regarding funding for further development. The company has confirmed that available cash and facilities fell from USD3.5 million at 30 September to USD3.2 million at 31 December.
In case you missed it yesterday, the latest episode of
Magic Markets is a look back at some of our earlier analysis in Magic Markets Premium and how those stocks have behaved since then vs. our expectations. We discussed the likes of Nike, Monster Beverage Corp, Etsy and more.
Listen to the show here.
Have a good day!
The Finance Ghost
